CROSSWORD SETTER: Daniel A. FinanTHEME: It’s All Relative … today’s themed answers are in pairs, with one answer of the pair being positioned UNDER or OVER the other answer in the grid. Both elements of each pair mean the same thing, provided we incorporate OVER or UNDER into one of the answers:

Today's Wiki-est, Amazonian GoogliesAcross13. Gringos' land : EL NORTE
“El Norte” is the term many people in Central America use for the United States and Canada, “the North” in Spanish.

“Gringo” is a slang term used in Latin American countries for white, non-Hispanic foreigners.

20. Place with wheels and deals : CASINO
The “casino” originated in the 1700s, first describing a public room for music or dancing. The name “casino” is a diminutive of “casa” meaning “house”.

21. Summit planner : SHERPA
In the Tibetan language, Sherpa means "eastern people" (sher = east, pa = people). Sherpas are an ethnic group from Nepal, but the name is also used for the local guides who assist mountaineers in the Himalayas, and particularly on Mount Everest.

23. Woodworking tool : RIP SAW
In woodworking, a cut across the grain is known as a cross cut. A cut along the grain is called a rip cut. Most saws are designed to perform the best cross cuts, but there is a special rip saw that more easily cuts straight lines along the grain.

26. Some bling : ICE
“Ice” is a slang term for diamonds.

Bling-bling is the name given to all the shiny stuff sported by rap stars in particular i.e. the jewelry, watches, metallic cell phones, even gold caps on the teeth. The term comes from the supposed “bling” sound caused by light striking a shiny metal surface.

29. Most Cypriots, ethnically : GREEKS
Cyprus is an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a divided island, with the Republic of Cyprus controlling about 60% of its area. The remaining 40% calls itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and is occupied by Turkish forces.

32. Like some eagles and tires : BALD
The Bald Eagle is sometimes referred to as the American eagle. It is both the national bird and the national animal of the USA, and appears on the US Seal.

"Li'l Abner" was created and drawn by Al Capp for over 43 years starting in 1934. Al Capp stopped producing the strip in 1977, largely due to illness (he died from emphysema two years later). As the strip finished up, he went so far as to apologize to his long-standing fans, saying that he should have stopped 3-4 years earlier as he felt that the quality of his work had gone down in those latter years.

36. Company with the Havoline brand : TEXACO
Texaco gets its name from "The TEXA-s CO-mpany". Today Texaco is just a brand name owned by Chevron, but it used to be its own operation, founded as the Texas Fuel Company in 1901.

39. Valdez of coffee advertising : JUAN
Juan Valdez is a fictional Colombian farmer who appears in advertising for Colombian coffee. Valdez has been pushing coffee since 1969.

40. Period of the Cenozoic Era : NEOGENE
The Neogene period is the second of the three periods into which the Cenozoic Era is divided. The first part of the Cenozoic Era is the Paleogene Period, when mammals evolved after the extinction of the dinosaurs. In the Neogene period, mammals and birds continued to evolve, at a faster rate than other species. The last of the three periods in the Cenozoic Era is the the Quaternary, which spans about 2.5 million years ago to the present day.

The Cenozoic Era is the most recent geologic era, and covers the period from 65.5 million years ago to the present day. The start of the Cenozoic Era is defined as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, the cataclysm that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

47. Writer Kipling : RUDYARD
Rudyard Kipling was a British poet and writer famous for his tales of the British Raj, the rule of the British Empire in India. Kipling was actually born in Bombay, but returned with his family to England when he was very young. After being educated in England, he returned to India and from there traveled the world. Kipling’s most famous works are the stories “The Jungle Book”, “Just So Stories”, “The Man Who Would Be King”, and the poems “Mandalay”, “Gunga Din” and “If-”.

49. Cynic Bierce who once defined "alone" as "in bad company" : AMBROSE
Ambrose Bierce was, among other things, an American satirist. He wrote a satirical lexicon called "The Devil's Dictionary" published in 1911. The book is still popular today, with an updated version released in 2009. It includes "new" definitions from Bierce that were not included in his original work. Roy Morris, Jr. wrote a biography about Bierce called “Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company”.

59. Stairway post : NEWEL
A newel is a principal upright post that supports a handrail beside a staircase. Newels are found at the top and bottom of the banister, and sometimes in between. Newels are often adorned with decorative trim to set them apart from the other posts by the staircase.

62. "Back to the Future" villains : LIBYANS
Michael J. Fox was the first choice to play the lead character, Marty McFly, in 1985's "Back to the Future". Unfortunately, the producers of his TV sitcom "Family Ties" would not release him to make the movie, so the crew started filming with a different choice for the lead, actor Eric Stoltz. Weeks into production, it was decided that Stoltz was miscast, and Fox was approached again. Eventually an arrangement was made with the "Family Ties" producers to "share" Fox, which led to an exhausting schedule. Fox worked seven days a week, filming "Family Ties" during the day and working on "Back to the Future" at night, usually till 2:30 in the morning.

64. Amo : I love :: ___ : I hate : ODI
“Odium” is a strong dislike or aversion. The term is Latin in origin and relates to the Latin word “odi” meaning “I hate”.

65. "The Merry Drinker" painter : HALS
Frans Hals was a painter from the Dutch Golden Age born in Antwerp but who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals is best known for his portraits, the most famous of which is probably “The Laughing Cavalier”.

70. "Adoration" subjects in a Leonardo painting : THE MAGI
"Magi" is the plural of the Latin word "magus", a term applied to someone who was able to read the stars. Hence, magi is commonly used with reference to the "wise men from the East" who followed the star and visited Jesus soon after he was born.

“The Adoration of the Magi” is a painting that was left unfinished by Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci was commissioned to complete the work in Florence but left for Milan before he could complete it.

74. Maine college : BATES
Bates College in Lewiston, Maine was founded back in 1855 and was coeducational from the day it first offered classes. That makes bates College one of the oldest coeducational schools in the country.

75. Irish county and seaport : SLIGO
Sligo is a coastal county in the West of Ireland. The county takes its name from the principal town of Sligo. The town’s name in Irish is “Sligeach”, which means “shelly place”, perhaps indicating that lots of shellfish were found in the town's river.

81. Martin Sheen's real family name : ESTEVEZ
Martin Sheen is the stage name of actor Ramón Estévez. Despite all of his great performances, Sheen has never even been nominated for an Academy Award. Isn’t that something? I thought he was outstanding in his starring role in television’s “The West Wing”.

85. Pam of "Jackie Brown" : GRIER
Pam Grier is an actress whose most acclaimed performance was in the 1997 Quentin Tarantino film “Jackie Brown”, in which she played the title role.

88. Part of London where Eliza Doolittle is from : EAST END
The East End of London is home to the Cockney, and Cockneys are famous for dropping their aitches, as in “here” becoming “‘ere” and “home” becoming “‘ome”.

Eliza Doolittle is Professor Henry Higgins' speech student in George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion". Of course "Pygmalion" was adapted by Lerner and Loewe to become the Broadway musical "My Fair Lady". The musical spun off the wonderful 1964 film of the same name starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. To cockney Eliza Doolittle, Professor Henry Higgins was "'Enry 'Iggins".

90. One side of an 1899-1902 war : BOERS
“Boer” is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for "farmer", a word that was used to describe the Dutch-speaking people who settled parts of South Africa during the 1700s.

92. Source of ivory : WARTHOG
A warthog is a wild animal from the pig family found in Sub-Saharan Africa. The animal takes its name from four wart-like protrusions on its head that serve as a means of defense as well as reserves of fat.

93. Uzbekistan's ___ Sea : ARAL
The Aral Sea is a great example of how man can have a devastating effect on his environment. In the early sixties the Aral Sea covered 68,000 square miles of Central Asia. Soviet Union irrigation projects drained the lake to such an extent that today the total area is less than 7,000 square miles, with 90% of the lake now completely dry. Sad ...

The Republic of Uzbekistan is a former Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, and is in fact surrounded by countries which are also landlocked. This means that to reach a coastline from Uzbekistan, you have to cross at least two international borders. There are only two “doubly landlocked” countries in the world: Uzbekistan in Central Asia, and Liechtenstein in Central Europe.

94. About a quarter of the population of Sicily lives on its slopes : ETNA
Mt. Etna is the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy. Mt Etna is about 2 1/2 times the height of its equally famous sister, Mt. Vesuvius.

98. Title girl in a Chuck Berry hit : NADINE
Chuck Berry may be a pioneer of rock and roll, but he had an inauspicious start to his life. He was raised in a middle class family in St. Louis, and started playing and performing music in high school. However, while still at school he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery. He served three years for the crime, and was released from prison in 1947 on his 21st birthday. He certainly got his act together after that …

107. A line in an A-line? : HEM
An A-line skirt is one that fits snugly at the hips and flares toward the hem.

109. Punk offshoot : EMO
The musical genre of "emo" originated in Washington D.C. in the 80s, and takes its name from "emotional hardcore". Not my cup of tea …

112. Movie director who was himself the subject of a 1994 movie : ED WOOD
Ed Wood was a screenwriter, director, producer and actor who made a lot of low-budget films during the 1950s. Wood worked a lot with the actor Bela Lugosi and when Lugosi passed away, the popularity of Wood’s film died off with his star. Tim Burton made a biopic about the life and career of Ed Wood that was released in 1994, a movie that was simply called “Ed Wood”.

114. Gold-medal gymnast Mary Lou : RETTON
Mary Lou Retton is an Olympic champion gymnast from Fairmont, West Virginia. Retton won Olympic Individual All-Around gold in the 1984 games, making her the first female athlete to do so who wasn’t from Eastern Europe.

116. Powell's successor on the Supreme Court : KENNEDY
Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy of the US Supreme Court was appointed by President Reagan in 1988. Although Justice Kennedy’s decisions are viewed as largely conservative, after Sandra Day O'Connor has retired he has been considered by many as the "swing vote" on the court.

118. "Keep going!" : ENCORE!
"Encore" is the French word for "again".

119. Love to hate? : ANTONYM
An antonym is an “anti-synonym”. A synonym is word having the same sense as another, and an antonym the opposite. For example, “love” is an antonym of “hate”.

120. Canon parts : TENETS
A tenet is an article of faith, something that is held to be true. “Tenet” is Latin for “he holds”.

121. On the receiving end of a Dear John letter : DUMPED
Apparently the term "Dear John letter" originated in WWII among American troops who were serving abroad. The servicemen highly valued letters from girlfriends and wives back home, and almost invariably those missives started out with "Dearest", or "My Darling" or some other expression of affection. A curt, "Dear John" set the tone for a letter which was likely to contain news of a new love interest in the life of the girlfriend or wife.

Down2. Secular : LAICAL
Anything described is laic (or “laical, lay”) is related to the laity, those members of the church who are not clergy. The term "laic" ultimately comes from the Greek "laikos" meaning "of the people".

4. Gumshoes : PIS
Gumshoe is a slang term for a private detective or private investigator (P.I.). Apparently the term "gumshoe" dates back to the early 1900s, and refers to the rubber-soled shoes popular with private detectives at that time.

10. Gaelic tongue : ERSE
There are actually three Erse languages. Irish, Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man) and Scots Gaelic. In their own tongues, these would be Gaeilge (in Ireland), Gaelg (on the Isle of Man) and Gaidhlig (in Scotland).

13. Lines to Wrigley Field : ELS
The Chicago "L" is the second largest rapid transit system in the US, with the New York City Subway being the largest. The "L" is also the second oldest, again with the New York City Subway system having the honor of being around the longest. Note that the official nickname for the system is the "L" (originally short for "elevated railroad"), although the term "El" is also in common use (especially in crosswords as "ELS"). The L is managed by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).

The famous ballpark that is home to the Chicago Cubs was built in 1914. Back then it was known as Weeghman Park, before becoming Cubs Park when the Cubs arrived in 1920. It was given the name Wrigley Field in 1926, after the owner William Wrigley, Jr. of chewing gum fame. Wrigley Field is noted as the only professional ballpark that has ivy covering the outfield walls. The ivy is a combination of Boston Ivy and Japanese Bittersweet, both of which can survive the harsh winters in Chicago.

17. Moreno of "West Side Story" : RITA
The Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress Rita Moreno is one of the few performers to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony. Moreno got her big break, and won her Oscar, for playing Anita in the 1961 screen adaption of “West Side Story”.

Leonard Bernstein's musical "West Side Story" is of course based on William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". The musical is set in New York City and features two rival gangs: the Sharks from Puerto Rico and the Jets with working-class, Caucasian roots. Tony from the Jets falls in love with Maria from the Sharks. All this parallels Romeo from the House of Montague falling for Juliet from the House of Capulet in the Italian city of Verona.

30. Dreamcast maker : SEGA
Sega is a Japanese video game company headquartered in Tokyo. Sega actually started out 1940 in the US as Standard Games and was located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The owners moved the operation to Tokyo in 1951 and renamed the company to Service Games. The name “Sega” is a combination of the first two letters of the words “Se-rvice” and “Ga-mes”.

33. Résumé datum : DEGREE
A résumé is a summary of a person’s job experience and education and is used as a tool by a job seeker. In many countries, a résumé is equivalent to a curriculum vitae. “Résumé” is the French word for “summary”.

37. Boomers' kids : XERS
The term Generation X originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture". By the latest accepted definition, Gen-Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.

43. "___ gut" : SEHR
“Sehr gut” is German for “very good”.

44. Breyers alternative : EDY’S
Dreyers' ice cream sells its products under the name Dreyers in the Western United States, and Edy's in the Eastern states. The company's founders were William Dryer and Joseph Edy.

46. Rest in a hammock, say : LOLL
Our word “hammock” comes via Spanish from Haiti, evolving from a word used there to describe a fishing net.

49. He's 2, for one : AT NO
The element helium (He) has an atomic number (at. no.) of 2.

50. He "will never speak unless he has something to say," in a song : MR ED
"Mister Ed" first aired in 1961 and ran for almost five years. It was a very successful show (and even made it to Ireland!). Mister Ed, the talking horse, was a palomino that had the real name of Bamboo Harvester. Mister Ed's "voice" was that of actor Allan "Rocky" Lane, a star of a lot of B-movie westerns from the forties and fifties. In the show, Mister Ed would only talk to the lead (human) character Wilbur, played by Alan Young, leading to some hilarious situations. Mister Ed had a stunt double and stand-in for the show, another horse called Pumpkin. Pumpkin later played the horse that made frequent appearances on the show "Green Acres".

54. "Bambi" doe : ENA
The 1942 Disney classic "Bambi" is based on a book written by Felix Salten called "Bambi, A Life in the Woods". There is a documented phenomenon known as the Bambi Effect, whereby people become more interested in animal rights after having watched the scene where Bambi's mother is shot by hunters.

76. Macros, e.g. : LENSES
A macro lens is one that is used for shooting very small subjects, so that the resulting image is usually larger than life size.

77. Words of remembrance, briefly : OBIT
"Obituary" comes from the Latin "obituaris", originally the record of the death of a person, although the literal meaning is "pertaining to death".

78. Michael of "Arrested Development" : CERA
Michael Cera is a Canadian actor, a very talented young man who is riding high right now. Cera played great characters on the TV show "Arrested Development", and the 2007 comedy-drama film "Juno".

“Arrested Development” is a sitcom that originally aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Ron Howard was heavily involved in the show behind the camera, serving as executive producer and also as the show’s narrator. Fifteen new episodes of “Arrested Development” were filmed specifically for release on Netflix in 2013, and there may even be a movie on the way.

80. McFlurry flavor : OREO
The McFlurry is the ice cream dessert from McDonald’s. Cleverly, a McFlurry is mixed on a machine with the mixing blade then doubling as a spoon with which one eats it.

84. Indian wrap : SARI
The item of clothing called a "sari" (also "saree") is a strip of cloth, as one might imagine, unusual perhaps in that is unstitched along the whole of its length. The strip of cloth can range from four to nine meters long (that's a lot of material!). The sari is usually wrapped around the waist, then draped over the shoulder leaving the midriff bare. I must say, it can be a beautiful item of clothing.

90. Built-in part of a tank top, maybe : BRA
“Tank top” is another one of those terms that always catches me out, as it has a different meaning on each side of the Atlantic. In the US a tank top is a sleeveless shirt, something we would call a “vest” back in Ireland (and the US “vest” is what we call a “waist coat”). A tank top in Ireland is a sleeveless sweater, which further adds to the confusion. The name “tank top” is derived from “tank suit”, an old name for a woman’s one-piece bathing suit. The use of “tank” for the bathing suit came from “swimming tank”, an obsolete term used in the 1920s for a swimming pool.

92. Block party? : WARDEN
A prison warden is one party one might see around a cell block.

97. Observed Yom Kippur : ATONED
Yom Kippur is also known as the Day of Atonement.

99. Funeral delivery of old : ELOGE
“Eloge” is an archaic term for “eulogy”.

A eulogy is a speech or piece of writing that praises someone who has recently passed away or who is retiring. “Eulogy” comes from the Greek word “eulogia” meaning “praise”.

103. Director Gus Van ___ : SANT
Gus Van Sant is a movie director (among other things) who has been nominated twice for an Oscar, for “Good Will Hunting” in 1997 and for “Milk” in 2008.

106. Gershwin biographer David : EWEN
David Ewen wrote two biographies of George Gershwin, called “The Story of George Gershwin” and “George Gershwin: His Journey to Greatness”.

George Gershwin is my second favorite American composer (after Philip Glass). Gershwin’s music dominated the popular and classical genres in his day. The list of Gershwin’s most popular works includes “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924), “An American in Paris” (1928) and “Porgy and Bess” (1935).

108. Many a Yelp link : MENU
yelp.com is a website that provides a local business directory and reviews of services. The site is sort of like Yellow Pages on steroids, and the term “yelp” is derived from “yel-low p-ages”.

111. Big Apple N.L. team : NYM
The New York Mets baseball team was founded in 1962, a replacement for two teams that the city had lost, namely the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. For several years the Mets played very poorly, finishing no better than second-to-last in their division. Then of course along came the “Miracle Mets” who beat the Baltimore Orioles in 1969 to claim the World Series in a huge upset.

Apparently the first published use of the term "Big Apple" to describe New York City dates back to 1909. Edward Martin wrote the following in his book "The Wayfarer in New York":

"Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city. . . . It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap."

Over ten years later, the term “big apple” was used as a nickname for racetracks in and around New York City. However, the concerted effort to “brand” the city as the Big Apple had to wait until the seventies and was the work of the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau.

113. Fielding feats: Abbr. : DPS
Double plays (DPs)

115. Cable inits. for a cinephile : TCM
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is one of my favorite television channels, delivering just what its name promises: classic movies.

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About This Blog

This is the simplest of blogs.

I do the New York Times puzzle online every evening, the night before it is published in the paper. Then, I "Google & Wiki" the references that puzzle me, or that I find of interest. I post my findings, along with the solution, as soon as I am done, usually well before the newsprint version becomes available.

About Me

The name's William Ernest Butler, but please call me Bill. I grew up in Ireland, but now live out here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am retired, from technology businesses that took our family all over the world.

Crosswords and My Dad

I worked on my first crossword puzzle when I was about 6-years-old, sitting on my Dad's knee. He let me "help" him with his puzzle almost every day as I was growing up. Over the years, Dad passed on to me his addiction to crosswords. Now in my early 50s, I work on my Irish Times and New York Times puzzles every day. I'm no longer sitting on my Dad's knee, but I feel that he is there with me, looking over my shoulder.

This blog is dedicated to my Dad, who passed away at the beginning of this month.